Miss Fortune

Chapter Thirty

It wasn't exactly a perfect shore day. Heavy iron-gray clouds clotted the sky and even near the ocean, where there was usually a breeze, the air was stagnant and still, almost visible with humidity.

Alex glanced over at Thorin, who hadn't said much since they left Gram's house. His eyes hidden behind his Ray-Ban Aviators, his expression unreadable, he steered with his left hand resting along the bottom of the steering wheel, while his right hand rested on his thigh. The dark hair spilling over his forehead fluttered with the AC blowing.

"Are you all right?" she asked as he slowed enough for the Parkway tollbooth to read his EZPass transponder.

"Yeah." He lifted his hand from his thigh, bringing it down onto hers to give it a gentle squeeze. "Why would't I be?"

"I don't know." She shook her head. "But you seem awful quiet."

"Just... thinking, I guess." His fingers tightened on her thigh, then eased, although he stroked along her outer thigh with his thumb. "I do that when I'm driving. When Frerin first died, I spent a lot of time on the back roads, driving and trying to get my head clear. It's habit now."

"What's on your mind? Lawrence?"

"No, actually. Frer." He looked over at her and shrugged. "I wonder what happens once we solve his murder."

"So, you think we will?"

He bobbed his head. "I do, yeah. And I didn't for a long time. If, before you came into the station to bail Charlie out, you'd asked me if I thought it'd happen, I'd have told you no. But since then? Yeah, I think we will. We've got a person of interest now, Lex. And that wasn't even close to being the case in December."

She smiled at the hope in his voice, a hope she also felt, since she couldn't stand the thought of not solving Frerin's murder. "I wonder what happens as well. It would be weird if he just stopped popping into my bedroom, which sounds weird, but you know what I mean."

"Yeah, I know what you mean. He likes to lie in wait for me and pop out from behind the refrigerator door when I close it. He's good for nearly making me drop a glass or bottle at least once a week."

She brought her hand to rest atop his, giving his a gentle squeeze. His thumb brushed hers in response. "I always thought that death was the end," he said softly. "That once we finished here, that was is. It was finished entirely. Ashes to ashes and all that.

"But, now? I'm finding everything my mother, everything my grandmother, seemed to believe is closer to the truth." He looked over at her. "Remember how I told you my mother swore we were descended from the Druid high priests and priestesses, from the Norse vǫlur?"

"I do, yes."

"You never asked me what the vǫlur were. You know, don't you?"

"Thorin, I've grown up with this, with the mythology of seers and witches along with the reality of them." She looked down at the large hand stretched across her thigh, and without thinking, traced along from the base of his middle finger, along the back of his hand to his wrist. "I didn't ask because I know. But, what I don't quite get is if your mother believes you to be descended from the seers of old, why can't she see Frerin?"

He didn't answer, but his fingers tightened on her thigh again as he signaled to ease into the access lane at Ext 4-A for Wildwood. Alex leaned her head back and gazed out the window once more. It had been such a long time since she'd last been at the Jersey shore, and she'd never been to Wildwood, which was two hours south of Ortley Beach, where her family chose to vacation. She was curious to see how it differed, if it even did, from Ortley. Besides, it helped take her mind off the fact that she would soon be meeting Thorin's mother and the last thing she wanted was for Mrs. Durin to appraise her and find her lacking.